2r4 HUNGARIAN LITERATURE sad and lonely even here, for the sight of others' love and joy makes bim feel the more keenly the greatness of his own loss. Once, weighed down with grief, he proceeds to the margin of a beautifui lake and throws into its waters his only treasure, the rose which he has kept all this wh ile. He bids it show bim the path to death, and he will follow. But, oh, wonder of wonders, the rose is suddenly transforrned into a lovely maiden. It is Iluska who stands before bim. The lake is the wa ter of life, and revíves everything which is thrown into it, and as the rose grew from the ashes of the maid, the magic water recalls her to life . She is so lovely that the fairy maidens elect her to be their queen, while the fairy knights want János for their king, so there they both live happy ever after. Petőfi's last great epic poem, The Apostle, is a series of boldly drawn but exaggerated events and feelings. The hero is a man of the people, full of lofty ideas, which , however, cannot be realised in actual life. He ends his life as the murderer of the king. In the story of his love thcre a re some of the features of Petőfi's love-story, but chiefly the sadder ones, such as the obsta cles to his mar riage. The account of the hero's cheerless childhood reminds the reader of Dickens's novels, which were so much admired by Petőfi. The bírd which chcers the írn prisoned apostle seems to have flown to his cell from that of th e prisoner of Chillon. It is certainly reminiscent of Byron . ln the pathos of the hero there is a resemblance to the Girondins of Lamartine, white his bold defiant attitude recalls the manner of Coriolamts. Petőfi's conception of th e world is based on strong demoeratic convictions. It might be su mmed up thus : Mankind is continually developing. Great men and great ideas have the greatest influence on the education of the
